Individual
Character's full name: Mara Rousseau
Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Nebula
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Date of Birth: 02/28/1992
Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Portland, Oregon
Nationality: American
Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: Mixed European
Appearance
Hair color and style: Chin-length, graduated bob, bleached white-blonde from her natural brown; generally styled in loose waves
Skin Tone: White
Eye Color: Hazel
Height: 5’ 7”
Build: Thin
Visible mutation: N/A
Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: Pierced lower and upper ear lobes and left double-helix; black and gray, fine-line tattoo on inner left forearm of a stylized flowering oleander branch
Other features: N/A
Everyday clothing style: Personal style best described as “casual rocker”: jeans or jean shorts over tights; boots; layered tops (tank, tee, over-sized jacket or cardigan); slouchy hats; generally dresses in shades of blue, black, and gray
Uniform: Unknown
Sleepwear: A pair of light sleep shorts, and an old, over-sized t-shirt which previously belonged to an ex
Miscellaneous clothing: Earrings (a combination of hoops and studs), multiple layered bracelets made of silver, leather and suede, usually worn on the right wrist; and a necklace with a long, delicate silver chain and an oval pendant of Saint Jerome, which she never takes off
Character
Personality: Mara is a quiet, introspective person. She can be a bit suspicious of strangers, and presents as polite but somewhat standoffish until she gets more comfortable with a person. Around friends, she’s known to be a bit of a smart-alec with a dry sense of humor. Mara lives her life under the mantra “Live and Let Live,” and feels that getting involved in other peoples’ affairs only causes trouble.
Hobbies/ Interests: Mara enjoys reading poetry, painting with watercolors, visiting national parks, medieval architecture, and cat videos on the internet.
Job or part time job and description: Mara manages an Etsy shop selling paper crafts (cards, homemade stationery sets, home decor) and clay miniatures.
Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Ever since she learned what it is, Mara is convinced that she is afflicted with thalassophobia. On a more day-to-day basis, she has anxiety about her abilities-- and their destructive potential-- being discovered.
Special talents: Mara can paint the nails on her non-dominant hand without making a mess… usually.
Morality
Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: Neutral-good. Mara uses logic to inform her behavior and sticks to her personal moral code. She believes in following the spirit of the law, if not the letter, combining ethical considerations with her personally-held code of conduct to determine her actions.
Mutations
Mutation description:
Mara can generate a cloud of poisonous, metallic-green fog originating from her hands. The vapor, being heavier than air, sinks to the lowest level of the land, even pouring down openings and spreading around corners, as it rolls along the surface of the ground. It heavily obscures the area which it covers.
The poisonous vapor affects all living creatures within its sphere of influence when it is ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through abraded skin; it feels cool and tingly, almost like carbonated soda, when it touches skin, and has a slightly sweet smell. The poison remains on non-living surfaces for 30 seconds after the fog has passed, maintaining toxicity until it evaporates.
A living thing that is exposed to the poison will experience a progression of symptoms based on the severity of the exposure. Very minimal (“level 1”) exposure causes numbness and tingling of the lips and tongue. “Level 2” exposure causes additional numbness and tingling in the extremities, sweating, and headaches. “Level 3” (medium) exposure results in feelings of weakness, lethargy, a loss of coordination, and tremors. At “Level 4” exposure, the victim begins to have difficulty speaking and swallowing; their extremities take on a bluish tint due to lack of oxygen, and they experience severe gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain) and mental impairment. At the most severe (“Level 5”) exposure, the poison will cause seizures and convulsions, respiratory distress, and paralysis, eventually leading to death.
Strengths:
Mara’s poison can affect a victim even if they don't need to breathe, since it can be absorbed via contact with skin. When in hand-to-hand combat, she can maintain the poison on/around her body to cause additional damage to her enemy. In the same way, she can coat a weapon in the fog to cause additional temporary poison damage.
Mara’s powers are particularly deadly in enclosed spaces.
Mara is immune to the poison she generates, and is naturally resistant to other toxins.
Weaknesses and Limitations:
Mara can generate her poisonous cloud at rate of 1 foot per second, up to a maximum of 10 feet in diameter. With concentration, she can move the cloud at a rate of 1 foot per second, up to a maximum of 20 feet in one direction. Mara must move with the cloud if she wishes it to travel beyond that distance.
Mara can maintain the integrity of the poisonous vapor, with concentration, for up to 1 minute for the largest (10 foot diameter) cloud; up to 5 minutes for a medium (5 foot diameter) cloud; and up to 10 minutes for small (1 foot diameter) cloud. If she attempts to control more than one cloud of toxin at a time (for example, up to two medium clouds or three small clouds), she can do so for a maximum of one minute.
Mara requires 1 hour of rest per maximum usage of her powers before can generate additional fog attacks. (A rest would be needed after she maintains a large cloud for 1 minute; or, maintains one or more medium clouds for a total of 5 minutes; or, maintains one or more small clouds for a total of 10 minutes; or any combination of the three.)
Mara’s poison can be dissipated by strong winds (or anything that could feasibly disperse a heavy fog). The fog is not as effective against living creatures that do not breathe and/or those with impenetrable skin. Mara may also be vulnerable to mental and physical attacks when controlling the largest poisonous clouds due to the amount of concentration required to maintain them.
If Mara approaches her limitations, she will experience nosebleeds, followed by fatigue and/or fainting if she exceeds them.
Physical Abilities
General Physical Capabilities: Average strength, speed, reflexes, and stamina.
Fighting Style: No formal fight training.
Fighting Style Pros/Cons: N/A
History Of Your Character
Mara’s mother was from Utah and left home as soon as she was able to head to the west coast. After bouncing around multiple cities and states, she ended up in Portland in her early twenties, where she met Mara’s father. A Portland native, he worked on an oil rig off the coast of Alaska for most of the year, and only returned home occasionally to visit his family. It was during one of these visits that the two became acquainted, and, nine months after their brief affair, Mara was born.
While her parents never had a romantic relationship beyond that initial fling, they remained in each others’ lives as co-parents. Mara grew very close to her paternal grandparents, who frequently stepped in to babysit when her mother was working. She saw her father only sporadically throughout her life because of his career, and while they weren’t particularly close, they still maintained a decent rapport.
When Mara was thirteen years old, her mother unexpectedly announced that the two of them would be moving to California in order to pursue a better quality of life. Devastated by the idea of leaving her home, family, and friends behind, she fought relentlessly against it. Many hours of arguing, screaming (mainly on Mara’s part), and crying (on both of their parts) ensued, and they were no closer to a resolution. In fact, Mara’s mother was even more determined to move than ever before, as she had begun to experiencing a weird series of symptoms she referred to as “being allergic to Oregon.”
Eventually, they came up with a solution: Mara’s grandparents offered for the girl to remain with them for the next few months, “at least until you get settled in California.” Mara was excited to stay in Portland, but it was a bittersweet compromise for them both.
The day her mom left that summer marked the first time Mara generated a fully-formed poisonous vapor. As it continued to happen over the following days and weeks, it became clear that it wasn’t Oregon that her mother was allergic to, it was Mara herself.
In the coming days, their little family came to some difficult decisions. First, Mara would be staying with her grandparents for the foreseeable future. (They had realized that stress caused her “condition” to flare up, and what could be more stressful to a teenager than moving to a new place?) Second, they would be keeping the entire situation a secret. If the news was anything to go by, public opinion was not at all positive towards people like her; the safest option was to keep it private. And last, they would be spending the rest of that summer learning to navigate her abilities safely.
In a stroke of good fortune, Mara found that she was actually quite adept at controlling her powers. Her grandparents were incredibly encouraging; if they were at all concerned about her hurting them, they never let her know.
Mara spent the rest of her high school career living with her grandparents while doing her best to keep her powers concealed. After graduation, she attended university where she earned a bachelor’s degree in the Humanities. Mara’s grandparents began to decline in health over the years, and, during her final semester at college, her grandmother passed away.
Before her grandmother’s death, Mara had been considering graduate school as the next step in her career. But given the circumstances-- and her grandfather’s continuously declining health-- she instead decided to move back home to be his caretaker. Given how much they had done to care for her all her life, it only seemed right to do the same for him.
Mara spent the next few years working a variety of part-time jobs while caring for her ailing grandfather. She eventually opened an Etsy shop selling paper crafts as another way to make some extra money; and, after some time, it replaced her part-time job as her main source of income.
Three months ago, Mara’s grandfather passed away. Now without an anchor, Mara has been trying to figure out what to do next… and while she doesn’t know exactly what she wants, she feels ready for something different. With the small inheritance left to her by her grandparents, she has decided to make the trek cross-country to New York City (though, whether it will be temporary or permanent, she still hasn’t decided).
Roleplay
What’s your OOC alias?: I.AM.OMEGA
Where did you learn about this site?: I Googled “x-men rpg” and found the site that way!
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: N/A
Sample RP:
Mara absentmindedly fiddled with the silver chain around her neck. This leg of the drive was taking much longer than she’d anticipated, and she was feeling restless. Two weeks, two-thousand miles, and nine-- or was it ten?-- states, and one thing remained the same across all of them: traffic.
She exhaled loudly.
It had been an uneventful drive so far. Television and movies definitely exaggerated the majesty of the solo, cross-country road trip, that was for sure. Nevertheless, there had been a few moments that made it seem worth it. Yellowstone National Park was breathtaking, and well worth going hours out of her way to see. And Chicago? That was definitely a highlight.
But there had also been that creep at a rest stop in Iowa.
She didn’t feel any remorse about the way she got rid of him. If anything, he deserved a lot worse.
...Even still, she didn’t stick around afterwards in case he called the cops. Mara was absolutely certain that she would be the one to end up arrested if he did. It wasn’t fair at all, but words like “poison,” “mutant,” and “assault” were enough to bias even the most impartial bystander these days.
Mara’s lips twitched into a smirk. That guy would definitely think twice before putting his hands on another random stranger.
Mara flicked the turn signal and tapped her fingers to the rhythmic click-clack of the mechanism. In just a few more days, she would be in New York.
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Excitement bubbled up in the pit of her stomach, and her smirk transformed into a wide smile. It was the fresh start she was longing for, and something told her that her adventure was only just beginning.
